Medical Firsts

Medical Firsts. Amputation Leads to Prosthetics. , As Col. Porterfield's Virginians fled past here, surgeons quickly began to help the injured. The church that stood on the left side of the street served as a hospital. James E. Hanger of the 14th Virginia Cavalry was one of the Confederate casualties treated there. Hanger and his comrades were in a stable near the intersection of Main and Pike streets when a cannonball crashed into the building, striking him in the left leg., Dr. James Robinson of the 16th Ohio Volunteers amputated Hanger's leg about seven inches below his hip, one of the first of approximately 60,000 amputations during the war. Hanger remained in Philippi until he was sent to the prisoner-of-war camp at Camp Chase in Ohio. About three months after the battle, he was sent home to Mount Hope, Va., Hanger's wounding started a medical revolution. Unhappy with his uncomfortable false leg, Hanger patented a prosthetic in 1871 that incorporated a joint at the knee and a hinge at the ankle. He formed Hanger Orthopedics, which made some of the first practical artificial limbs, and still produces prosthetics today, (Captions) , Union troops race through Philippi, chasing Confederates out the other side of town. - Courtesy Library of Congress, Postwar image of James E. Hanger Courtesy Library of Congress, A prosthetic leg based on James Hanger's design. Courtesy National Museum of Civil War Medicine, Frederick, Md., Turn right, and march down Main Street to sign 5.